I was stunned last week to learn of the death of Keith Barr, the founder of Alesis and a beloved, legendary engineer of music technology. He was 61. An analog engineer gone digital, he led the charge to make digital reverb and studio recording affordable, and even after his Alesis years continued to be one of music’s great engineering minds.

Our condolences to Barr’s surviving family and to the countless friends and colleagues in the music industry and beyond.

Keith Barr was a musician’s engineer – his chip designs were all about sounding good rather than padding out spec sheets. A case in point is the Spin Semiconductor FV-1 reverb IC he designed in 2006. It uses a cheap 32.768 kHz crystal that you’d usually see in a real time clock circuit., generating an ADC/ DAC bandwidth of only 15 kHz. He commented that you could run the device from a 48 kHz clock, but you’d simply chew through delay memory faster without dramatically increasing the quality of the audio.

He also gave back to the engineering community by writing ASIC Design in the Silicon Sandbox: A Complete Guide to Building Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits, in which he core dumps everything he’s learned about mixed signal chip design (including a business tips). The Spin FV-1 was designed at the same time he was writing his book, and it brings many of the ideas he writes about to life in stereo. In fact, the Spin Semi site is filled with stuff that’s usually kept inside R&D departments. The chip is extremely well documented with all kinds of useful design philosophies, code snippets and ideas hidden away in the knowledge base. I was stunned by his willingness to share his secrets, and by his almost childlike glee when someone did something unexpected with them.

A brief timeline:

1949: Keith Barr is born; spends teen years working with electronics and science

1985: The XT Reverb, created by Barr, is Alesis’ first product, and a landmark in making digital reverb accessible for the first time at US$799. It’s closely followed by the MIDIverb.

1987: Alesis makes a name for itself in sequencers (MMT8) and drum machines (HR-16), teaming up with Marcus Ryle (later founder of Line 6).

1987-1991: Barr conceptualizes a compact pro studio recorder, powered by digital tech. The result, released in 1991 as the ADAT, transforms the world of digital recording. (George Petersen for MIX points out this takes the price from Sony’s offering at $150,000 to the ADAT at $3995.)

2000: Barr is behind the Andromeda analog synth, arguably the instrument that helps launch a resurgent interest in new analog synths. He also uses his brilliant use of economy to produce cheap, fun instruments with gestural control, starting with the AirFX and 2001′s AirSynth.

2001: The victim of a changing business (and waning demand for ADAT), Alesis files for bankruptcy and is acquired by Jack O’Donnell, resulting in its reorganization as part of Numark. Barr leaves Alesis.

2002-2010: Barr goes on to innovate in integrated digital chip design, as founder and President of Spin Semiconductor. He continues to create ground-breaking designs, shares free DSP code, and literally writes the book on ASIC design for sound. Spin carries on this legacy of affordability with ASICs combining extensive processing features in single, affordable boards..

Barr remained focused on the future up to his death last week; while he cut his teeth on tube circuits, he had recently led the industry in exploiting ASICs for musical purposes. (ASIC stands for “Application-specific integrated circuit”; by building circuits specific to a purpose, they’re inexpensive, efficient circuitry tailored to a specific purpose, like audio processing.)

Spin’s own description of Barr sums up his vision:

Although an analog engineer at heart, he designs computer architectures, the most recent of which is the FV-1 processor (Spin’s first product). Keith sees ASIC design as the next step in electronics engineering, and designs all of his circuits from the bottom up, from the transistor level.

I hope that Barr’s designs will continue to have a future in production, and that we can bring more news soon.

I shared Keith’s story about how he created the original MIDIverb, and how his intention was to create the world’s cheapest digital reverb, rather than competing with Lexicon et al. His later reverb designs were quite excellent, and he shared a great deal on the Spin Semiconductor website and via email.

Keith seemed like a really nice guy, and was clearly enthusiastic about his subject, even after several decades of being in the thick of it.

I shared Keith's story about how he created the original MIDIverb, and how his intention was to create the world's cheapest digital reverb, rather than competing with Lexicon et al. His later reverb designs were quite excellent, and he shared a great deal on the Spin Semiconductor website and via email.

Keith seemed like a really nice guy, and was clearly enthusiastic about his subject, even after several decades of being in the thick of it.

http://www.valhalladsp.com Sean Costello

It is also worth noting that the Spin Semiconductor FV-1 is a fantastic chip. Easy to program once you dive in, with a powerful feature set. The ability to run things off a watch crystal is quite significant, in that the resulting product will have very low RF emissions compared to most digital boxes (which are clocked in the megahertz).

Damon

Thats a bummer. I know it seems a peculiar homage, but his intention to making great gear affordable really is something to remember with respect and appreciation. Without guys like him, some people would never later be able to find their way into the business. And this was a unique sacrifice he made. He could easily have produced very expensive gear which would shine the eyes of envy and consistent adulation, but he was courageous enough to suffer the slings and arrows of gear snobbery in order to remain a servant to the up and comers. Which is not to say much of what Alesis produced is not fantastic, just that he cared more about the regular guy than those more privileged, affording the regular guy to maybe someday be more privileged. We should appreciate other budget conscious companies the same way. One persons "crap" review may be another person's doorway to opportunity.

pierlu

Thanks for the article, I'm glad to have the chance to read about the life of such a fine person and to remember him, even if I did not know him before now.

http://www.valhalladsp.com Sean Costello

"I know it seems a peculiar homage, but his intention to making great gear affordable really is something to remember with respect and appreciation."

Nothing peculiar about it at all. Keith Barr obviously took pride in making good gear at a price that musicians can afford. "The $100 multiplier offended me!"

The fact that you can hear Alesis reverbs all over mid-90's techno and ambient music is evidence not only of the affordability of Alesis boxes for bedroom musicians, but also the great sounds you could get out of them. In the early 1980's, it was only the Lexicon and AMS reverbs that could get that really long hall decay. The Alesis boxes (at least starting with the MIDIverb II if not before) had great patches for getting this sound, that I'm sure were an inspiration for Aphex Twin, Autechre et al.

http://www.loopyc.com Loopy C

Back in 1984 I had just graduated with a degree in Electronics Engineering and was combing the papers for a job. I answered an ad that was looking for chip designers for 'musical applications' and wound up in a small house (Alesis headquarters in those days) in LA interviewing with Keith. Really nice guy, I never would have known one day my first 'studio' would be full of this same man's ideas and dreams.

Many years later, while I was working for Canon, we met again and I bartered some work for some gear…and had a nice lunch with him. Not exactly a 'relationship' but I feel honored to have had these small moments with someone who defined so many paradigms in musical technology

http://www.createdigitalmusic.com Peter Kirn

Yes, absolutely – I think affordability and great engineering are more likely than not to go hand in hand. I don't mean "cheap," but "economical" — finding designs that are efficient. And his work was an extraordinary set of examples of that.

strunkdts

cheers for my Quadraverb II. RIP

http://xfader.com regend

i owned an HR-16. sometimes wish i still had it as it was my go to instrument to program ideas. ADAT technology would be next. it was in every project studio i worked during the mid 90's. the wedge, a QS6, a 16 channel mixer, some alesis monitors, and an ion would be the other products i would go on to use. although sometimes frustrating to use, i could make some quality music with just bare minimum alesis products.

http://ideletemyselfbitbyebit.blogspot.com/ ideletemyself

I STILL enjoy my QS6 even though I only use it for VST control now… I'm so glad a friend gave it to me to learn on years ago. Without it, I would not be where I am today, musically that is….

ante marcus

sad news

Leon (another one)

The advent of the ADAT meant that I (among many others, I'm sure) could get decent sounds, enough tracks to record a full band (16, woo-hoo!) and a mobile setup that made any decent space a potential studio (hello industrial zone!).

All of this contributed to the birth of me as a recording entity beyond cassette tape tech.